Loose Ends
by The Shadow Author
Summary: Its just after the Battle and Jack goes off on his own to tie up some loose ends he never knew he had, and finds something out on the way. Includes all the Guardians!


Jack Frost left the other Guardians behind. They all, in their relief, didn't notice him leave. He flew through the air, mind falling back to his newly returned memories. He had a sister! A family! and now that he knew, he had a special place in mind, one that he had been strangely drawn to over the years and never knew why. He landed among Burgess's crumbling headstones. It was at the very back that he found three blackened headstones. Two were too worn to read, but the other was still legible.

Mary Emma Overland

1702-1766

Strongest of us all

Jack fell to his knees, tears falling as he finally took in his sister and who she might have been, and who he never got to see. His hand reached out and trailed over the words. Jack sucked in a breath before looking up at the sky. The moon shone bright in the dark night sky. The circular disk was beginning to wean, but the light still shone down bright as ever.

"Why?" He gasped out softly, "Why take me from her? Why couldn't I have at least gotten to watch her grow up?" As he knelt, mind reeling and tears streaming, the Moon began to shine brighter. Then Jack heard his voice. The voice he had only heard once, three hundred years ago.

"Jack Frost, I am sorry for all of the heart ache these past centuries," Tsar Lunar said in his bright but soft voice, "but you could not have your memories if you were to become a Guardian. Though you did see her grow, and she did see you, I needed to take the memories until you had become a Guardian. I now return them to you, Jack Frost, and wish you the best with your new Family." Jack stared up at the Moon, mind reeling. He saw his sister? And she saw him? Before his thoughts could go any further, a rush of light and feelings swept him away.

At first, there was no light. Everything was dark and cold, but a voice brought him warmth in the darkness.

"Jack! Jack? please Jack answer me! I'm getting Mama, just be ok!" it yelled. It took him a moment to realize that it was a girl's voice, one that was extremely familiar. His mind searched for an answer as his body began to rise in the light of the rising Moon. He barely caught sight of the girl as she hurried down a path. His feet touched down on the ice.

"Your name is Jack Frost," a voice, The Moon, said, making him look up at the sky. When nothing else was said, Jack looked back around at the forest and lake around him. He stumbled across the ice to a familiar looking crooked staff. He picked it up, something in him keeping him calm as ice spread across it. Again the voice of the girl echoed through him, making him look back up at the trail she had taken. Sure enough it was the girl with a motherly looking woman close behind her. The girl sobbed as she continued to explain what had happened to the woman, drawing Jack closer to her.

"And and he pulled me away with the staff Mr. Jones gave him and he smiled and fell in and and and," she stuttered. The woman simply fell to her knees at the edge of the lake, tears streaming. "He's going to ok, right mama?" the girl begged, falling into her mother's arms. The mother closed her eyes, looking pained.

"No Baby, Jack went to live with Papa," the mother said softly, making the girl sob harder. Jack moved closer to them and looked at the girl's face. Something about her looked so familiar, but why? Jack raised a hand to wipe a tear away and gasped when his hand went right through her. In response, the girl shivered and looked around, eyes searching.

"Jack?" She whispered, "Is that you?" Their eyes met briefly before the mother stood with the girl in her arms.

"Come on Baby, lets go get warm," The woman said softly. The girl didn't say anything, she had eyes only for the transformed figure of her brother. That's when it all came back to the new spirit.

"Mary?" Jack whispered and rushed forward to follow. Within three steps the Wind had swept him up, flying him up high enough to see the whole town. Jack gasped in fear before beginning to laugh. He stumbled through the air before making a hard landing in front of their cabin, just as the two returned. Jack peeked in through a window and watched as Mother fed Mary and wrapped her in a large quilt. Mother made sure Mary was settled before leaving to go to town and spread the news. Once she was out of sight, he tapped on the window. Mary sat straight and looked to him, eyes shining. She ran over and pulled the window open.

"Jack?" She gasped out softly.

"Yeah it's me," he said with a small smile. Mary's eyes grew wide as she gasped again, but this time began to sob. Jack hugged her the best he could through the window, wanting to comfort her.

"I thought I lost you," she gasped out. He hugged her tighter.

"Yeah, thought I lost you for a while there too," he said softly. Finally they pulled apart.

"But how? I saw you fall in," she asked him.

"I really don't know. All I know is that the Moon told me that my new name is Jack Frost,, Jack said with a shrug, finally pulling away.

"And why didn't Mama see you?" Mary asked. Again Jack could only shrug, wincing at the memory of the feeling of his hand passing through her. Before he could say anything, he felt a pull for him to go somewhere else. A pull that was almost to hard to resist. Mary seemed to understand the look he had as he glanced back at the forest. "You won't leave me will you?" she asked softly, new tears rising in her eyes. Jack looked back at her, stricken. Finally he sighed and pulled her back into a hug. They stayed like that for a long time before Jack finally spoke up

"I have to Mary. I don't know why, but it feels like there is something I need to go and do. I promise I will come back." He finally said. Mary looked up at him, eyes searching. Finally she nodded.

"Just make sure you come back," she said softly, burrowing her head into his chest. Jack chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"How could I not come back? You would be to boring without me," he said, making her swat at him. He backed up and began to float higher, not nearly as clumsy this time as he had been.

"Love you Big Brother," she called and waved.

"Love you too Little Sister," he called and, on instinct, waved his staff before flying off. Mary laughed as snow began to fall lightly all around her.

More Memories began to flash before Jack's eyes

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄He saw Himself playing with his sister every winter, and her being the one who convinced him to play with the other kids, even when they couldn't see him.

He saw himself there when she met her first love, and when they broke up. (He had pelted the guy with snowballs for half an hour).

He began to cry as he saw his sister get married right beside his Lake and watched as he himself made it the perfect Winter Wonderland, complete with fresh snowfall, icicles on every tree and a light flurry setting it all off.

He laughed when he saw his sister have her first child, a son named Jackson.

He watched himself play with little Jackson and all his siblings when they came.

He watched as he stood at Mary's side as each and every one grew up and went to live their own lives..

He comforted her as she sat crying after her beloved husband died saving a child from a burning house.

Then he cried along with his past self as they stood by Mary's side when she took he last breath, her final words still ringing in his ears.

"Thanks for believing in me all this time, Big Brother. Never stop having Fun. You make every life better because of it. Love you, Jack Frost."

Jack continues to cry as he was finally pulled from his memories. His Sister, his beautiful Mary Emma. He DID see her grow up! And she was so beautiful! She lived such a good life too, one he was so proud of. And she had been the reason, Memories or no Memories, that he had always had Fun. She was the reason for his Center. And now he knew where he had seen those big brown eyes before...! Jack sat, taking it all in, tears continually falling. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the sound of sleigh bells as they approached, the tunnel opening nearby, or the sound of wings as they landed beside him. He was finally pulled from his thoughts when he felt thin feathered arms wrap around his shoulders. He looked up, surprised to find all four Guardians around him, looking worried.

"Jack, what is wrong?" North asked, stooping to put a hand on his shoulder. By his ear, Baby Tooth chirped the same question. Now Jack smiled through his tears.

"Nothing's wrong, just came to tie up some loose ends," he said, standing in a single swift movement.

"Yer sure Mate?" Bunny asked. Jack smiled and looked back up at the Moon. It seemed to grow brighter for a single brief moment.

"Yeah Kangaroo, I'm better then ever", Jack said, grinning when the nickname got Bunny riled up. Jack, North, Bunny, and Sandy turned and moved back to the sleigh, laughing at the argument between Pooka and Winter Spirit. Tooth stayed back and instead looked down at the gravestone. She smiled and ran a hand over the dirt cover top. She knelt and set a golden tooth container among the Wild flowers that grew around it, a picture of a brown haired girl with big brown eyes smiled up among the weeds. Tooth then looked at the stone next to it and wiped the dirt from the letters.

Jackson Frost Overland

1693-1707

Hero and Beloved Brother and Son

May you live on through every Day of Fun

Now Tooth wiped a tear away and smiled. Yeah, Jack had his memories back and now had not one Family, but two. And it would stay that way should Queen Toothiana have anything to do with it. Tooth grinned and shot away to catch up with the others, not hearing the laughter of a little girl as it rang out behind her.

The form of Mary Emma watched from the trees as her Brother and his Family flew off, laughing and smiling. She stepped forward, towards the three gravestones and, with a wave of her hand, polished them back to gleaming health. Then she ran a hand over her own stone before glancing back in the direction her Brother had left by.

"I will always Believe in you, Big Brother", she said and, in a swirl of childlike laughter and moonlight, returned to Mama and Papa and the rest of her family to watch as Jack Frost brought Fun to the Children of the world and Protected them as he always did her.


End file.
